On Friday, June 24th, 2022, as I was enduring day 285th of my 3rd-Hunger Strike outside the UNHCR office in Athens, Greece and due to lack of a meaningful response from the Organization, I had found no other choice but to plead with the U.S. Embassy again for urgent support both in terms of In-Kind Donations for my survival as well as mediation for resolving my dire situation in Greece.

Although both the U.S. Embassy and the UNHCR office were informed two days earlier about my intent for visiting the U.S. Embassy, but upon my visit there, the receptionist immediately called the Police even without listening to me. This led to the Police arriving at the scene even before I could finish conveying my short message to them and despite being in the public area, but they also wouldn’t let me open my banner there outside the U.S. Embassy.

I was consequently immediately taken to the Ambelokipi Police Station where they placed me in Detention at the basement of the building for 42-Days along with 7 to 8 other foreigners under conditions totally unfit for holding people for such a prolonged period of time supposedly due to being undocumented before they finally decided for my release 7-weeks later on Friday, August 05th, 2022.

This is when the Police said they would be transferring me to the Amygdaleza Pre-removal Detention Center after spending 2 to 3 days there at their Police Station, but they never did.

According to some Greek Laws, 42-Days detention is equivalent to 14-months (420-Days) imprisonment.

Due to the conditions inside I got sick after the first 10-days and I have not yet been able to recover. All the other people inside were suffering from the same problems and despite repeated requests from almost all Detainees, the Police wouldn’t provide us with the care we desperately needed. Visits to the Hospital were almost impossible, because they wouldn’t take us there and the only medicine that was available was Depon tablets which were often denied to us under different pretexts.

Having been illegally detained in the Amygdaleza Pre-removal Detention Center for 36-Days in 2018, I could say the conditions there are also not so different of that of the basement of the Ambelokipi Police Station except for the fresh air and also a little bit of more freedom in terms of being allowed to have your Cellphone with you and being able to communicate with the outside world, which in circumstances like this, especially when being at risk of Deportation could potentially make a huge difference in someone’s life.

There was absolutely no fresh air in the basement of the Police Station, which was the main reason contributing to deteriorating our health conditions. And having no one outside whom I could confidently rely upon, it took me up to 20-days before I could get a Tele Card and contact the UNHCR office and some other organizations, among which the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), the Greek Forum for Refugees, Human Rights 360, the Greek Section of the Amnesty International and the EU Commissioner for Human Rights in order to inform them not just about my illegal detention there but more importantly to request help in terms of Legal Aid and Mediation for finding a Durable Solution to my case.

However, as far as I can tell, none of those organizations offered any help. The Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) said they would not be able to take any actions, not even for my transfer to Amygdaleza at least not until after August 20th due to a shortage of staff. The Amnesty International was hanging up the phone on me every time I called their office and the people at Human Rights 360 finally said they are unable to take on my case without specifying any reason despite asking. As for the EU Commissioner for Human Rights, no one was answering the Calls, hence I left them a voicemail, but due to Machine Instructions given in French and not in English, I cannot be sure if my message went through. Lastly, although this time at the UNHCR office they answered two of my Phone calls and said they would be contacting me at the Police Station, but I neither saw anyone from the organization visiting me there nor did the Police inform me about any phone calls from them concerning my case. This is when a representative from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) promptly visited one of the Detainees there one day after the first Phone call to the Organization for voluntary repatriation.

Moreover on the day 7th of my Detention there the Police brought me deportation documents in order to be signed for them, which I didn’t sign and one week later they also took pictures which they said it would be sent to the Iran’s Embassy, but upon my release they didn’t provide copies of those documents to me. Instead they gave me another document simply acknowledging that I am a Recognized Refugee and sent me away afterwards.

This is when they could have easily known that both from the documents I had shown the Police at the time of my arrest 42-days earlier as well as from the long history of my repeated detentions specifically at the Ambelokipi Police Station, but because of the racist and fascist agendas they have adopted towards Refugees and Asylum Seekers in this country they rather chose to ignore those anyway.

I had to return back to the Police Station on Saturday in order to make formal requests both for receiving a Document certifying my prolonged and unjustified Detention there as well as for getting copies of the Documents they wanted me to sign for my Deportation.

Although I managed to submit two applications for these purposes, but due to their frequent arbitrary misconducts it is hard to tell whether or not and when I would be able to receive those documents.

Currently I am back at my protest site outside the UNHCR office. It was a relief to find my shelter still being here and not vanished by the Police. They have vanished my shelter here so far on 5 occasions. Each time it cost me about 500 Euros.

However, what worries me the most at this point is my safety and well-being. Because after this short break from my 3rd-Hunger Strike and without any resolution which is yet to be offered to my case, and more importantly due to lack of a meaningful and a steady stream of financial support in terms of In-Kind Donations, I have now practically been forced into undergoing another Hunger Strike.

In the other words, I am now on my 4th-Hunger Strike which has already started on Saturday, August 06th, 2022.

I call on everyone concerned with Human Rights, especially the Rights of Refugees to break their silence against this ongoing atrocity in Greece. The least you could do is to spread the word, sign my online Petition and make a Donation now if you can.

Thank you for your solidarity and support.

Yours Respectfully;

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Hostage of Europe

Anwar Nillufary

Email: anwar.nillufary@gmail.com

Tel: +30 690 683 8657 / +30 698 118 7157

#JusticeAndFreedomForHostageOfEurope #HumanRights #Refugees

Monday, August 08th, 2022

[Digitally Signed]

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